About The Rookie Moms:

Heather Flett and Whitney Moss are the co-founders of RookieMoms.com, a website dedicated to helping women have more fun in their first years of motherhood.
Heather and Whitney believe that early motherhood is lovely, exciting, scary, and simultaneously boring (!); and, that best antidote to postpartum loneliness is to get out of the house every day. They are the coauthors of The Rookie Mom's Handbook: 250 actvities to do with (and without!) your baby. They both live in Berkeley, Calif. Whitney's children are Julian (2004) and Scarlett (2007) and Heather has three boys: Holden (2005), Milo (2007) and Sawyer (2011).
Heather and Whitney also co-founded 510families.com to share fun activities around Berkeley and Oakland, Calif.

RECENT POSTS

The other day we celebrated our seven year “blogiversary” on rookiemoms.com. In honor of this milestone, I wanted to dig deep into the archives here at babycenter and highlight a few of our favorite tips for helping new and not-so-new moms to have more fun. Stuff to do without the baby, but while you’re totally… Read more »

I think we’ll all agree that the highlight of Halloween night is dumping your bag of candy on the living room floor and sorting it into piles. Seven Kit Kats, 12 mini-Snickers, one eraser shaped like a soccer ball, and so on. As a parent, seeing my little ones with a mountain of sugar in… Read more »

I noticed a thread in the babycenter community the other day that made me giggle: Light-up shoes – why the hate? In it the posting mom, asked what’s the problem with light-up shoes on a small child. The top commenter called them hideous (which doesn’t really answer the question) so I laughed and kept reading. I… Read more »

The great thing about sewing a Halloween costume is that precision is not critical. Even less important is long-lasting handiwork, because the fruits of your labor need only last for one day. Fear not the washing machine on your insecure stitching. In recent years, I’ve dabbled in making components of my children’s costumes, and the… Read more »

Like most of us, Emily Waltz was struggling to find a few more hours of sleep after she had her baby boy. Her overnight stretches of wakefulness were not shrinking even has her son’s sleep improved. Unlike most of us, she tackled the problem with the discipline, tenacity, and geekery of a scientist. I admire… Read more »

I’m on a two-week cleanse: no sugar, no alcohol, no caffeine, no gluten, no dairy. I’ve made it 12 days and haven’t cheated yet. Ok, I had one bite of a strawberry ice cream popsicle. I’m only human. I couldn’t do it alone. I followed a structured program, not only with a local friend who… Read more »

I’ve dabbled in stay-at-home-mom life: each of my official maternity leaves was about five months long; on school holidays I’ll be the one in charge for a week or so. When I’m the main parent on duty with one or more of my three children, I have routines set up, outings, and often a break…. Read more »

Kids need rules. They like them. My Kindergartner, after five days of her elementary school career, has been lecturing us on Being Safe, Being Respectful, and Being Responsible. Thank you very much, Berkeley Unified School District. I’ll take it! This morning I read an article over on The Mother Company website about The Hazards of… Read more »

Move over staycation, there’s a new game in out of town. The workcation is happening, and I’m thinking that it’s good for families. I vaguely remember the days of top salesmen earning romantic getaways. I think some of my high school friends threw parties when their folks were on such boondoggles. Dozens of eighties movies… Read more »

During the orientation for my children’s afterschool program, a slideshow projected images of the enriching fun to which the kids would be exposed during their long afternoons in daycare. One of the activities is yoga. In the photograph, a group of older children, perhaps fourth graders, are sitting cross-legged on the floor, smiling, with their… Read more »

As a dark chocolate lover, Berkeley resident, and parent of small people, I take candy seriously. In fact, there’s a pretty good chance that I think its more for grown-ups than for kids. So, when I heard about healthier candy made with more real food (instead of chemicals), I figured that I would have to… Read more »

I first saw the ombre trend on long maxi dresses that I would never wear myself. First of all, I am five feet tall, and therefore cannot wear a dress that is five feet long unless I hang it from my ponytail. Second, I don’t know how to pronounce the word ombre without feeling embarrassed…. Read more »

Tim Burton, director of Beetlejuice and Edward Scissorhands, among other dark and interesting cinematic treats, has a new film coming out and called Frankenweenie (not my favorite title, but it’s wiener dog/Halloween pun). I’ve seen a short preview of the black and white stop-motion animated film and suspect it will birth a whole new generation… Read more »

So, I gotta know from you more experienced moms out there, how old is too old for Velcro shoes? When my oldest son was five, we were both pretty sure that shoe-tying-mastery was within reach: we agreed, “Must tie shoes before turning six!” Now at age seven, he knows how to tie his shoes but… Read more »

Here are nine things I learned on my last trip to Disneyland: 1. Cost of admission for babies: FREE until they are THREE. 2. Stroller rental If your baby is not so much a baby anymore, but you suddenly realize she’s in need of a nap, you CAN rent a stroller for $15 per day,… Read more »

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I vaguely remember learning the 5-1-1 rule. You know, you head to the hospital when your contractions are 5 minutes apart, lasting 1 minute long for 1 hour. During our Lamaze classes we were given instructions to cope with contractions and I anxiously awaited laboring at home. Except, it never happened. With my daughter, I… Read more »